Successful recruitment efforts seen in Fall 2012 enrollment numbers

September 27, 2012

For the first time in the past five years, Emporia State’s enrollment numbers show an increase in new freshmen, transfer and graduate-level students. And for the first time in more than a decade, the new freshmen’s average ACT score is higher than 22, rising nearly a full point above its previous 21.6

Those results were part of the Fall 2012 20th-day enrollment numbers released today by the Kansas Board of Regents. Overall, Emporia State reported a total enrollment of 5,867 students on the 20th day of Fall 2012 classes, which is down 1.8 percent from the Fall 2011 figures.

“Our new recruiting strategies have been successful,” said Dr. James Williams, vice-president for student affairs, who leads the enrollment management team at Emporia State. “Now we have to retain this group.”

To recruit this year’s new group of students, Emporia State launched an integrated marketing campaign that included billboard and television advertising in urban Kansas markets and high-energy events like Hornet Night in Overland Park and the Hornet Telethon on campus. Also key was increases in scholarship opportunities for new and transfer students thanks to a $7.5 million commitment from the Emporia State University Foundation.

Both recruitment and retention are the keys to enrollment growth. Emporia State University this semester launched several new programs that focus on helping students become successful. The programs include the E-Experience that brought new students to campus in July before the school year began, the Six Week Series that expands traditional orientation activities through midterms of the first semester and CW 101: College Experience Seminar, a one-credit course in the fall semester that provides tools and resources to navigate the first year of college.

Another new program is PALs or Peer Academic Leaders, students who work with the Student Advising Center to mentor first-year students.

The goal for this new class of students, Williams said, is to move from 70 to 75 percent retention.

“The growth of this institution is critical to the future of Emporia State,” said Dr. Michael D. Shonrock, Emporia State University president, “and we recognize the positive economic impact of growth in the Emporia community, Lyon County and state of Kansas.”

Emporia State University is a dynamic and progressive student-centered learning community that fosters student success through engagement in academic excellence, community and global involvement, and the pursuit of personal and professional fulfillment.